How Liberty Hill handled crisis management during flooding disaster

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Approaching almost a month since the devastating flooding that hit Central Texas, many communities are still rebuilding.

Liberty Hill was one of those communities impacted by the flooding. About a day following the initial flooding, the city set up a page where people could request or provide help.

"That gave us a way to capture that data in a database," said Katie Amsler, Liberty Hill’s Director of Community Engagement and Communication. "We use that initial data to match the people that needed help with the resources, but then we were also able to use that data to really assess our needs, and that was key, because it helped us to have boots on the ground walking around."

Jermey Stillman operates a tactical aviation company that helps with disaster recovery and was looking for ways to help when the flooding hit. Stillman praised how the page functioned.

"I myself know hundreds, if not thousands of people who were reaching out to me saying, 'who do we talk to,'" Stillman said. I was able to tell them, 'look at Liberty Hill website.'"

Mayor of Liberty Hill Crystal Mancilla said collaboration across different organizations was essential to help people needing basic necessities.

"I think creating the distribution center was huge," Mancilla said. "It was definitely a team effort of pulling people who we all have strengths, and utilizing those to make sure we got the work done and we got it done quickly."

With the road to recovery still ongoing, Mancilla said it's important to continue to communicate productivity.

"I believe that the residents of Liberty Hill embody the essence of protecting one another," Mancilla said.